In-vehicle control apparatus and in-vehicle control method

ABSTRACT

According to an in-vehicle control apparatus, it is configured to receive information of a plurality of operation keys displayed on a display, to identify from a result of voice recognition of a user&#39;s speech, the operation key corresponding thereto on the basis of the information of the operation keys, and to execute a function assigned to the operation key upon receiving an instruction for execution by the user using a decision key, so that it is possible to perform an operation without making contact directly with the plurality of operation keys displayed on the display and without the need of a complex key operation. Further, solely by mounting just one decision key on a steering wheel, it becomes possible to safely perform the operation about the operation key displayed on the display without the user releasing his/her hand from the steering wheel during driving.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an in-vehicle control apparatus and anin-vehicle control method which give an instruction for execution of afunction assigned to an operation key that is displayed on a displayconnected to an in-vehicle device.

BACKGROUND ART

Heretofore, in a usual in-vehicle information device such as acar-navigation device or the like, in order to execute a functionassigned to any one of operation keys displayed on a display connectedto that device, an operation is performed in such a manner that theoperation key displayed on a screen of the display is identified using atouch panel, physical keys corresponding to the respective operationkeys, or an operation device such as a rotary switch, a cross key or thelike.

Accordingly, there is a problem that, in the case where the operation isperformed using, for example, the touch panel, this causes the user torelease his/her hand from the steering wheel, thus making it difficultto perform the operation during driving and further causing trouble indriving.

Meanwhile, in the case of the physical keys, the number of the physicalkeys increases in proportion to the number of the operation keys, sothat there is a problem that, when the number of the operation keys islarge, it is difficult to arrange all the physical keys corresponding tothe operation keys on the steering wheel.

Further, although it is not impossible to arrange the rotary switch orthe cross key on the steering wheel, such a relatively large device isundesirable to be arranged in such a limited arrangement space, andthere is a problem that, in order to identify each of the operationkeys, a complex operation becomes necessary as the number of theoperation keys displayed on the display increases, thus making itdifficult to perform the operation during driving and further causingtrouble in driving.

As a measure to solve such a problem, there is disclosed, for example,in Patent Document 1, a technology which provides a vehicle controlapparatus that allows the driver to control an in-vehicle control systemwithout releasing his/her hand from the steering wheel when operating atransmission control device for an automatic transmission or any ofvehicle-mounted devices.

CITATION LIST Patent Document

-   Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.    H08-83093

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

However, according to the conventional technology as, for example, inPatent Document 1, with respect to a plurality of operation keysdisplayed on the display, there are many cases where the number of theoperation keys becomes vast and where the operation key that isexecutable differs depending on a situation at each time or a displaycontent. Thus, when the invention of Patent Document 1 is just appliedwithout change, there may be a case where it is difficult to providesufficient operability for the user.

Specifically, when the number of the operation keys is vast, it isdifficult for the user to keep in mind the control commandscorresponding to all the operation keys; at the same time, as a problemin voice recognition technology, there is a problem that, thoughdepending on a user's speaking condition or a surrounding environment, avoice recognition accuracy becomes lower as the number of the standbycontrol commands increases. Further, because the objects to becontrolled are increased, ambiguity will not be allowed about the inputvoice contents for the respective control commands acceptable at thesame time, so that there is also a problem that a necessity generallyarises for the user to remember longer words as the control commands.

For example, in an audio-integrated car-navigation device, just by thecontrol command of “to large”, it is ambiguous whether it means [toenlarge the map screen] or [to set the audio volume up], so that it isneeded to speak “to make large the map”, “to increase the audio volume”or the like. Further, with respect to an operation that is acceptableonly under a particular condition, even if the user remembers itscontrol command, there is a risk that the user becomes confused becauseof not knowing in what situation he/she should speak it.

This invention has been made to solve the problems as described above,and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle control apparatus andan in-vehicle control method by which, in the case of operating each ofthe plurality of operation keys displayed on a display connected to anin-vehicle device, it is possible to make it easy to perform theoperation during driving and not to cause trouble in driving, andfurther to provide an acceptable operation and the corresponding controlcommand to the user in an easy-to-understand manner depending on adisplay content.

Means for Solving the Problems

In order to accomplish the above object, the invention is characterizedby an in-vehicle control apparatus for controlling an in-vehicle devicemounted on a vehicle, which comprises: a key information receiver thatreceives information of a plurality of operation keys displayed on adisplay connected to the in-vehicle device, dynamically in response to achange in display content displayed on the display; a voice recognizerthat recognizes a voice spoken by a user, using a voice recognitiondictionary; an operation key identifier that identifies the operationkey corresponding to the voice spoken by the user, on the basis of theinformation of the operation keys received by the key informationreceiver and a voice recognition result by the voice recognizer; and acontroller that receives from a decision key, an output for selectingthe operation key identified by the operation key identifier, to therebygive an instruction to the in-vehicle device for causing it to execute afunction assigned to the thus-identified operation key.

Effect of the Invention

According to the in-vehicle control apparatus of the invention, itbecomes possible to perform the operation without making contactdirectly with the plurality of operation keys displayed on the displayand without the need of a complex key operation. Further, solely bymounting just one decision key on the steering wheel, it becomespossible to safely perform the operation about the operation keydisplayed on the display without the user releasing his/her hand fromthe steering wheel during driving.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen in which aplurality of operation keys is displayed on a display screen of adisplay, according to Embodiment 1.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of operation key information(recognition keywords and execution commands corresponding to therespective operation keys) in the case of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an illustration diagram showing specific examples of anoperation of a car-navigation device (in-vehicle device), a displaycontent of its display, operation key information and a user'soperation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another example of the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus according to Embodiment 1.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing still another example of thein-vehicle control apparatus according to Embodiment 1.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 2.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 2.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a transition from a menuscreen in which a plurality of operation keys is displayed on a displayscreen of a display, according to Embodiment 2.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing another example of the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus according to Embodiment 2.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 3.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 3.

FIG. 14 is another example of flowchart showing operations of thein-vehicle control apparatus according to Embodiment 3.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing another example of the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus according to Embodiment 3.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 4.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 4.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 5.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 5.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 6.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 6.

FIG. 22 is a table showing an example of operation key information(recognition keywords, execution commands and coordinate informationcorresponding to the respective operation keys) according to Embodiment6.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detailwith reference to the drawings.

The invention serves in an in-vehicle control apparatus which controlsusing a user's operation, a variety of in-vehicle devices mounted on avehicle, to perform operation of each of a plurality of operation keysdisplayed on a display connected to the in-vehicle devices using voicerecognition and a single decision key.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the invention. The in-vehiclecontrol apparatus 10 is connected to an in-vehicle device 1 provided asan object to be controlled, and includes a key information receiver 11,a voice recognizer 12, a voice recognition dictionary 13, an operationkey identifier 14 and a controller 15, so that the in-vehicle device 1and the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 works together to performoperation control of the in-vehicle device 1. Further, a microphone 3and a single decision key 4 are connected to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10, and a display 2 is connected to the in-vehicle device 1.

Note that, the in-vehicle device 1 connected to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10, may be any device so far as it is associated withdisplaying and operation, such as a display having an operation controlfunction, a device having the display, a device connected to thedisplay, or the like, as exemplified by a car-navigation device, an HUD(Head-Up Display), an instrument panel and the like. The in-vehiclecontrol apparatus 10 may itself be incorporated in such a device. Theconnected configuration may be by wire or may be wireless such as byBluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi (registered trademark), andmay be configured with a server on a network.

Further, although the decision key 4 is herein described as an H/Wswitch mounted on a steering wheel (handle) of a vehicle, its mountedplace and switch configuration are not limited thereto, and the switchmay be any one so far as for execution of a decided operation. Further,though omitted from the diagram, it is allowable to configure so that:such an operation control of the in-vehicle device 1 can be made by anoperation using together with a conventional operation device, such as atouch panel, an H/W switch, a rotary switch, a cross key, a remotecontroller or the like; a plurality of in-vehicle devices is connectedto the in-vehicle control apparatus 10; and the microphone 3 and thesingle decision key 4 are connected to the side of the in-vehicle device1.

The same also applies to the following embodiments.

The in-vehicle device 1 transmits the information of the operation keysdisplayed on the display 2 to the in-vehicle control apparatus 10,receives an execution command corresponding to any one of the operationkeys from the in-vehicle control apparatus 10, and executes a functioncorresponding (assigned) to that operation key. The “functioncorresponding (assigned) to that operation key” means a function that isexecuted when that operation key is selected, such as, for example, atransition to a prescribed screen, a music playback, or the like.

Further, the operation keys displayed on the display 2 are not limitedto operation keys that are being displayed exactly on the display 2, andmay include that which is to be displayed by way of a specifiedoperation, such as, for example, a screen scrolling, a screenreduction/enlargement or a display/non-display switching, when andbecause they do not fall within the display area of the display 2.

Note that the same also applies to the following embodiments.

The key information receiver 11 receives from the in-vehicle device 1connected thereto, the information of a plurality of operation keysdisplayed on the display 2 connected to the in-vehicle device 1.Although specific examples of the operation key information will bedescribed later, the key information receiver receives it dynamically inresponse to a change in display content displayed on the display 2.Namely, in response to the display content displayed on the display 2changing dynamically, the operation key information to be receivedchanges dynamically.

The voice recognizer 12 has the voice recognition dictionary 13, andperforms A/D conversion of the sound (voice spoken by the user)collected by the microphone 3, etc., to thereby acquire it in a PCM(Pulse Code Modulation) format, for example, and then collates thefeature quantity of the voice with the voice recognition dictionary 13to thereby perform voice recognition processing. Here, the voicerecognition processing may be performed using a typical method, such as,for example, by a Hidden Markov Model. Further, as the voice recognizer12, a voice recognition server on a network may be used.

Here, the voice recognition dictionary 13 is so configured to allowrecognition of a keyword, etc. used for key identification processing inthe operation key identifier 14 to be described later, and the voicerecognizer 12 outputs the keyword (hereinafter, referred to as“recognition keyword”) included in the speech as a voice recognitionresult.

Meanwhile, with respect to voice recognition functions installed incar-navigation systems and the like, it is general that the userspecifies (indicates) a start of speech, etc. to the system. For thatpurpose, a button, etc. for indicating a start of voice recognition(hereinafter, referred to as “voice-recognition-start indicator”) isdisplayed on a touch panel or mounted on a steering wheel. Then, thevoice is recognized that is spoken after the speech-recognition-startindicator is pressed down by the user. Namely, thevoice-recognition-start indicator outputs a voice-recognition-startsignal, and, upon receiving that signal, the voice recognizer waits toreceive a speech of the user, followed by performing the above-describedrecognition processing.

However, the voice recognizer 12 in Embodiment 1 constantly recognizesthe spoken content of the user even without the indication to startvoice recognition by the user as described above. Namely, even thoughnot receiving the voice-recognition-start signal, the voice recognizer12 performs recognition processing using the recognition dictionary tothereby repeatedly perform processing to output a keyword included inthe voice recognition result. Further, in the above description, thespoken content of the user is recognized constantly; however, in orderto suppress the usage of a CPU, a memory or the like, it is allowable toperform recognition processing only when the sound inputted through themicrophone can be determined as a voice on the basis of a feature of theinput voice (for example, a volume of the input sound, etc.). The samealso applies to the following embodiments.

The operation key identifier 14 identifies the operation keycorresponding to the voice spoken by the user, on the basis of theoperation key information received by the key information receiver 11and the voice recognition result by the voice recognizer 12.Specifically, it refers to the operation key information acquired by theoperation key receiver 11 to thereby identify the execution command ofthe operation key corresponding to the recognition keyword acquired fromthe voice recognizer 12.

The controller 15, upon receiving from the decision key 4 an output forselecting any one of the operation keys identified by the operation keyidentifier 14, transmits the execution command corresponding to theidentified operation key to the in-vehicle device 1, to thereby instructthe in-vehicle device 1 to execute the function assigned to thatoperation key. The execution command may be in any form so far as it canuniquely identify the operation key in line with a predefined rule, suchas, for example, an ID by a number string or a character string, apattern of electric signals, a name of the operation key, or the like.The same also applies to the following embodiments.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 1 will be described specifically with referenceto FIG. 2. Here, it is presumed that the in-vehicle device 1 to beconnected is an audio-integrated car-navigation device.

First, the key information receiver 11 receives from the car-navigationdevice (in-vehicle device 1) connected thereto, the information of theoperation keys displayed on the display 2 (Step ST1). For example, asshown in FIG. 3, when four operation keys of [Playback], [Stop], [NextSong] and [Previous Song] are assumed to be displayed on the displayscreen of the display 2, information of sets of at least one recognitionkeyword and an execution command corresponding to the respectiveoperation keys is given as the operation key information as shown inFIG. 4.

Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen in which aplurality of operation keys is displayed on a display screen of thedisplay 2, according to Embodiment 1. Further, FIG. 4 is a table showingan example of the operation key information (recognition keywords andexecution commands corresponding to the respective operation keys) inthe case of FIG. 3. In this case, the operation key [Playback] has arecognition keyword of “playback” and an execution command code of“0001”; the operation key [Stop] has a recognition keyword of “stop” andan execution command code of “0010”; the operation key [Next Song] has arecognition keyword of “next song” and an execution command code of“0011”; and the operation key [Previous Song] has a recognition keywordof “previous song” and an execution command code of “0100”.

Thereafter, the voice recognizer 12 performs voice recognition from thevoice signal inputted through the microphone 3 using the voicerecognition dictionary 13, and outputs the recognition keyword includedin the speech (Step ST2). For example, in the case where “playback” isdefined in the voice recognition dictionary 13 as a recognition keyword,when the user speaks, for example, “well, ‘playback’”, then “recognitionkeyword=‘playback’” is outputted.

Next, using the recognition keyword acquired from the voice recognizer12, the operation key identifier 14 refers to the operation keyinformation acquired from the key information receiver 11, to therebyjudge whether the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult is present or not (Step ST3). Specifically, it judges whether theoperation key matched to the recognition keyword that is the voicerecognition result, is present or not.

Then, if the operation key corresponding to the voice recognition result(recognition keyword) is not present in the operation key information(in the case of NO in Step ST3), the flow returns to Step ST2, so thatthe voice recognition processing is performed again by the voicerecognizer 12.

In contrast, if the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult is present, namely, the operation key matched to the recognitionkeyword is present (in the case of YES in Step ST3), the operation keymatched to the recognition keyword is identified (Step ST4), and theexecution command corresponding to that operation key is sent to thecontroller 15. For example, in the case of “recognitionkeyword=‘playback’”, it is identified that “operation key=‘playback’”,and its corresponding “execution command=‘0001’” is sent to thecontroller 15.

The controller 15, when detects pressing-down of the single decision key4 connected to the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 (in the case of YESin Step ST5), transmits the execution command sent from the operationkey identifier 14, to the in-vehicle device 1 connected to thein-vehicle control apparatus 10 (Step ST6), so that the in-vehicledevice 1 executes the corresponding function. For example, “executioncommand=‘0001’” corresponding to “operation key=‘playback’” istransmitted from the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 to the in-vehicledevice 1, so that the in-vehicle device 1 executes, for example,playback of music as a function corresponding to “executioncommand=‘0001’”.

Here, the key information receiver 11 is that which receives theinformation of the operation keys dynamically in response to a change indisplay content of the display 2. About this, description will be madewith reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is an illustration diagram showing specific examples of anoperation of the car-navigation device (in-vehicle device 1), a displaycontent of the display 2, the operation key information and a user'soperation.

As shown at FIG. 5(a), it is assumed that a main menu having fiveoperation keys of [Destination Setting], [Audio], [Route Editing],[Help] and [Return] is displayed on the display 2. In this case, theoperation key information to be received by the key information receiver11 is as shown at FIG. 5(b).

In this state and in the case, for example, where the user wants toplayback music, when the user speaks “well, ‘audio’” and presses downthe decision key 4 as shown at FIG. 5(c), an audio menu screen isdisplayed on the display 2 as shown at FIG. 5(d) (screen is transited tothe audio menu screen).

In the audio menu screen shown at FIG. 5(d), five operation keys of[Artist], [Album], [All Songs], [Search] and [Return] are displayed. Inthis case, the operation key information to be received by the keyinformation receiver 11 is as shown at FIG. 5(e).

In this state, when, for example, the user speaks “‘all songs’” andpresses down the decision key 4 as shown at FIG. 5(f), a list screen ofall songs is displayed on the display 2 (screen is transited to the listscreen of all songs).

Thereafter, though omitted from the diagram, it suffices to operate insuch a flow that, subsequently and furthermore, the user speaks “‘XXXX’(a song title in the list)” and presses down the decision key 4, so thatthe song of XXXX is played back and an audio operation screen aspreviously described is displayed.

Note that the reference numeral 30 shown in FIGS. 5(c) and (f) indicatesthe speech of the user (spoken content).

As described above, according to Embodiment 1, it becomes possible toperform the operation without making contact directly with the pluralityof operation keys displayed on the display and without the need of acomplex key operation. Further, solely by mounting just one decision keyon the steering wheel, it becomes possible to safely perform theoperation about the operation key displayed on the display without theuser releasing his/her hand from the steering wheel during driving.

Further, it is possible to perform the operation that is dynamicallyresponsive also to the in-vehicle device having a UI (User interface) inwhich transition is made between hierarchical screens or to a display ofthe operation key which is partly overlapping, or to be added, in thedisplay area. Namely, because the operation key information is receiveddynamically in response to a change in display content of the display,it is possible to dynamically follow a change, if any, in the displayedoperation key, or to perform the operation that is responsive also topop-up like notice.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 6, it is allowable that the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus 10 further includes a dictionary generator 16 thatgenerates the dictionary at least from words (recognition keywords)corresponding to the operation keys displayed on the display 2, on thebasis of the information of the displayed operation keys, so that thevoice recognizer 12 recognizes the voice spoken by the user, using thevoice recognition dictionary 17 generated by the dictionary generator16.

At the time of generating the voice recognition dictionary 17, althoughinformation reading phonemes or like becomes necessary for recognizingthe voice, such information may be embedded in the operation keyinformation in a corresponding manner to each recognition keyword, orthe reading information may be given or estimated by morphologicalanalysis processing, etc. from text information such as operation keynames in the operation key information, information of the recognitionkeywords or the like. Here, the morphological analysis processing may beperformed using a typical method, such as, by a Hidden Markov Model thatis also used in the aforementioned voice recognition processing.

When thus configured, the voice recognition dictionary 17 is generatedresponsive to each time the display content dynamically changes, so thatrequired number of the words subject to voice recognition can be kept tominimum. Thus, it is possible to prevent false recognition of the wordirrelevant to an operation, or to reduce the time necessary for voicerecognition, so that the voice recognition performance (accuracy,response speed, etc.) can be improved and thus the user can perform acomfortable operation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, it is allowable that the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 further includes, but instead of the decision key 4, amotion recognizer 18 that recognizes a body motion of the user, so that,when the body motion of the user that shows an intention to cause anexecution, such as, for example, a nod or a wink, is recognized by themotion recognizer 18, the controller 15 gives the instruction forcausing the execution of the function assigned to the identifiedoperation key.

The recognition processing of the body motion by the motion recognizer18 may be performed using a typical pattern recognition by use of acamera 5, and the detection of a nod may be in such a manner that anacceleration sensor is worn on the head and when it senses a specifiedintensity in a specified direction, it is judged that the nodding hasoccurred.

When thus configured, it becomes unnecessary not only to have thedecision key, but also to make the action (operation) to press down thedecision key, so that any button operation becomes unnecessary. Thisresults in no need to release the hand or the finger wholly from thesteering wheel, so that the operation can be safely performed evenduring traveling.

Note that the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 is implemented by causinga microcomputer of the in-vehicle device 1 to which that apparatus isapplied, to execute a program relevant to the processing specific tothis invention, as a hardware-software cooperation substantial measure.The same also applies to the following embodiments.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the invention. Note that, withrespect to the components equivalent to those described in Embodiment 1,the same reference numerals are given thereto, so that duplicateddescription thereof is omitted.

In comparison to Embodiment 1, according to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 of Embodiment 2 shown below, it further includes anacceptive information annunciator 19, so that, based on theidentification result of the operation key by the operation keyidentifier 14, at least one of: a fact of starting to accept theinstruction for execution with respect to the identified operation key;a fact of continuing to accept the instruction for execution; and theinformation of the identified operation key is announced through aspeaker 6 or on the display 2 through the in-vehicle device 1. Notethat, though omitted from the diagram, it is allowable to use, as thatspeaker, a speaker connected to the in-vehicle device 1.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 2 will be described.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 according to Embodiment 2. Even here, it is presumed, likeEmbodiment 1, that the in-vehicle device 1 to be connected is anaudio-integrated car-navigation device.

The processing until the operation key is identified by the operationkey identifier (Steps ST11 to ST14) is the same as that in Steps ST1 toST4 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in Embodiment 1, so that itsdescription is omitted here.

Then, according to Embodiment 2, after the operation key identifier 14identifies the operation key in Step ST14, the acceptive informationannunciator 19 makes an announcement about: a fact that the operationkey has been identified by the operation key identifier 14 and thus theinstruction for execution with respect to the operation key becomesacceptable; information of the identified operation key and the like,namely at least one of: a fact of starting, upon identification of theoperation key, to accept the instruction for execution with respect tothe identified operation key; a fact of continuing to accept theinstruction for that execution; and the information of the identifiedoperation key (Step ST15).

Specifically, it is exemplified by the case where, upon receiving aresult identified as, for example, “operation key=‘playback’”, theannunciator makes a sound effect or plays music through the speaker 6connected thereto, or changes brightness, color, etc. of the displayscreen of the display 2, to thereby announce the fact that the operationkey has been identified and thus the instruction for execution aboutthat operation key becomes acceptable.

Other than the above, in order to clearly inform the user of theidentified operation key, it is allowable to read out the name, etc. ofthe operation key (for example, “playback”) utilizing a recorded voiceprepared for every operation key or a TTS (Text to Speech) technologybased on voice synthesis. Further, it is allowable to give a visualeffect to the operation key displayed on the display 2, for example, tolight up the periphery of the identified operation key as shown at FIG.10 (b), to display a graphic indicative of identification or to displayan icon, near the selected operation key, or to change the brightness,the color, the shape, the size, or the like of the portion of theoperation key.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a transition from the menuscreen in which a plurality of operation keys is displayed on thedisplay screen of the display 2, according to Embodiment 2.

As shown at FIG. 10(a), it is assumed that a main menu having fiveoperation keys of [Destination Setting], [Audio], [Route Editing],[Help] and [Return] is displayed on the display 2.

In this state and in the case, for example, where the user wants toplayback music, when the user speaks “audio”, as shown in FIG. 10(b), ahighlighted indication 40 is added such as by surrounding only theoperation key [Audio] with the frame, so that the user gets announced ina visually recognizable manner that the instruction for execution withrespect to that operation key becomes acceptable.

Then, in this state, when the user presses down the decision key 4, fiveoperation keys of [Artist], [Album”], [All Songs], [Search] and [Return]are displayed on the display 2 as shown at FIG. 10(c). The subsequentoperations and screen transition are omitted from description.

As described above, according to Embodiment 2, at least one of thetiming at which the instruction for execution becomes acceptable and theidentified operation key, can be confirmed before giving the instructionfor execution, so that it is possible to reduce: such a trouble that,before the operation key is identified, the instruction for execution isnot accepted even if the decision key is pressed down; and an erroneousoperation due to identification of the operation key different from theintended one (an operation different from the user's intention).

Further, it is allowable that, as shown in FIG. 11, the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus 10 further includes a vehicle information receiver 20that acquires information of the vehicle, so that the acceptiveinformation annunciator 19 changes the method of making announcementabout the identified key, according to the vehicle information, such asa vehicle speed, a steering angle of the steering wheel and the like,acquired from a variety of sensors 7 by the vehicle information receiver20.

For example, in such a case of particularly clearly informing the userof the identified operation key as described above, it is conceivablethat: when the traveling speed of the vehicle is less than apredetermined specific value, it is judged that the user has allowanceto watch the screen, so that, upon placing weight on comfortableness,the annunciator instructs the display 2 to make a screen-display basedannouncement that requires no time for communicating announcementinformation, as shown, for example, at FIG. 10 (b); whereas, when thespeed is equal to or more than the specific value, upon placing weighton safety, the annunciator instructs the speaker 6 to make a sound-basedannouncement (voice guidance, etc.) that requires no screen watching; orlikewise.

Then, the controller 15, when detects pressing-down of the singledecision key 4 connected to the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 (in thecase of YES in Step ST16), transmits the execution command sent from theoperation key identifier 14, to the in-vehicle device 1 connected to thein-vehicle control apparatus 10 (Step ST17), so that the in-vehicledevice 1 executes the corresponding function.

When thus configured, as exemplified by the case where, at the time ofstopping of the vehicle, the announcement is made by screen displaying,making it possible to lightly perform the operation, whereas at the timeof traveling, the announcement is made by voice outputting, making itpossible to safely perform the operation, it is possible to make theannouncement about the identified operation key to the user in such amanner that when the driving load of the user is low, weight is placedon comfortableness, whereas when the driving load of the user is high,weight is placed on safety. This makes it possible for the user to makethe operation in a safe and comfortable manner in conformity to thedriving condition, so that the degree of inconvenience on the operationcan be improved.

Note that it is assumed that the vehicle information herein alsoincludes road information, such as a width or a degree of bend (degreeof linearity) of the road on which the vehicle travels, clock timeinformation during traveling, and the like. Thus, when the method ofmaking the announcement is so designed that it is changed not only dueto a difference between the time of stopping of the vehicle and the timeof traveling, but also depending on the vehicle speed, or when themethod of making the announcement is so designed that it is changed insuch a manner that the threshold value of the above vehicle speed isvaried depending on a traveling location, the road information, theclock time, etc., the user can perform the operation in a more safe andcomfortable manner for him/her.

Further, though omitted from the diagram, it is allowable to configureso that the position of the host vehicle during traveling or theinformation of the width of the road can be acquired from theinformation in the connected navigation device (in-vehicle device 1) orthe like, to thereby vary a specified value (threshold value) of thetraveling speed depending on easiness of traveling.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the invention. Note that, withrespect to the components equivalent to those described in Embodiments 1and 2, the same reference numerals are given thereto, so that duplicateddescription thereof is omitted.

In comparison to Embodiment 1, according to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 of Embodiment 3 shown below, it further includes anacceptance period setter 21, so as to be configured to set a period(acceptance period) in which the instruction for execution of thefunction assigned to the operation key identified by the operation keyidentifier 14 is acceptable, and the controller 15 is configured toaccept the instruction for execution only in the acceptance period setby the acceptance period setter 21.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 3 will be described.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 according to Embodiment 3. Even here, it is presumed, likeEmbodiments 1 and 2, that the in-vehicle device 1 to be connected is anaudio-integrated car-navigation device.

The processing until the operation key is identified by the operationkey identifier 14 (Steps ST21 to ST24) is the same as that in Steps ST1to ST4 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in Embodiment 1, so that itsdescription is omitted here.

According to Embodiment 3, after the operation key identifier 14identifies the operation key in Step ST24, the acceptance period setter21 sets, upon receiving the identification result of the operation keyby the operation key identifier 14, a predetermined specific acceptanceperiod, for example, 10 seconds (Step ST25).

If the time is within the specific acceptance period (here, 10 seconds)after the operation key is identified (in the case of NO in Step ST26),like Embodiment 1, the controller 15 waits to pressing-down of thedecision key by the user. In contrast, if pressing-down of the decisionkey by the user is not detected even when the specific acceptance period(10 seconds) elapses after the operation key is identified (in the caseof NO in Step ST27 and YES is given in Step ST26), the flow returns toStep ST22, so that the voice recognition processing is performed againby the voice recognizer 12.

Then, the controller 15, when detects pressing-down of the singledecision key 4 connected to the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 (in thecase of YES in Step ST27), transmits the execution command sent from theoperation key identifier 14, to the in-vehicle device 1 connected to thein-vehicle control apparatus 10 (Step ST28), so that the in-vehicledevice 1 executes the corresponding function.

As described above, according to Embodiment 3, after the operation keyis identified, when the acceptance period elapses until the decision keyis pressed down, the recognized word is cancelled, so that it ispossible to reduce the possibility of causing the operation not intendedby the user in the case of false recognition. Further, even in such acase where, due to concentrating on driving, the user has forgotten whatthe identified operation key is, it is allowed to re-try from voicerecognition by speaking again after the elapse of the acceptance period,so that comfortableness on the user's operation can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14, it is allowable that, after the specificacceptance period is set in Step ST25, the voice recognizer 12 stilloperates in that acceptance period, so that, at every time a changeoccurs in the voice recognition result by the voice recognizer 12, theoperation key identifier 14 re-identifies an operation key on the basisof the voice recognition result after that change.

Namely, in the case where a speech is made by the user (the user speaksagain) within the specific acceptance period (for example, 10 seconds)after the operation key is identified, but before the decision key ispressed down by the user (in the case of NO both in Steps ST26 and ST27,and YES in Step ST29), the flow returns to Step ST22, so that the voicerecognition processing is performed again by the voice recognizer 12.

When thus configured, in such a case where, although the operation keyhas been identified, another operation key is wanted to be re-selected,or where the operation key has not been properly identified, it isallowed to easily correct such false recognition by a retry of speakingeven if the specific period has not elapsed, so that comfortableness onthe user's operation can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 15, it is allowable that the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus 10 further includes a vehicle information receiver 20that acquires information of the vehicle, so that the acceptance periodsetter 21 changes the acceptance period (makes it variable) according tothe vehicle information, such as a vehicle speed, a steering angle ofthe steering wheel or the like, acquired from a variety of sensors(vehicle speed sensor, etc.) 7 by the vehicle information receiver 20.Note that it is assumed that the vehicle information herein alsoincludes road information, such as a width or a degree of bend (degreeof linearity) of the road on which the vehicle travels, and the like.

For example, at the time of traveling at high speed or in the case ofturning left/right at an intersection, it is judged to be difficult forthe user to press down the decision key because the driving load ishigh, so that the acceptance period is set longer, whereas when there isa low frequency of handling the steering wheel and thus a straight linecontinues for a while, it is judged to be easy for the user to pressdown the decision key because the driving load is low, so that theacceptance period is set shorter.

When thus configured, an adequate acceptance period is to be setaccording to the user's allowance depending on the driving load, so thatit is possible to reduce such troublesomeness in the operation that,when the user has no allowance, he/she cannot give the instruction forexecution in the acceptance period and thus has to cause the voicerecognition once again for operation, and that there is a possibility ofcausing operation not intended by the user in the case of falserecognition.

Further, though omitted from the diagram, it is allowable to configureso that the position of the host vehicle during traveling or theinformation of the width of the road can be acquired from theinformation in the connected navigation device (in-vehicle device 1) orthe like, to thereby change the acceptance period depending on easinessof traveling.

Embodiment 4

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the invention. Note that, withrespect to the components equivalent to those described in Embodiments 1to 3, the same reference numerals are given thereto, so that duplicateddescription thereof is omitted.

In comparison to Embodiment 1, according to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 of Embodiment 4 shown below, it further includes a speechjudgement processor 22 that judges whether or not the input voicethrough the microphone 3 (the voice spoken by the user) is a speechintended to cause an operation, so that the voice recognizer 12 performsvoice recognition only about the speech which is the input voice (thespoken voice) that is judged to be a speech intended to cause anoperation, by the speech judgment processor 22.

For speech-state judgement processing (processing to judge whether ornot the speech is intended to cause an operation) in the speechjudgement processor 22, it suffices to use an aforementioned HiddenMarkov Model that is used in voice recognition, and, for example, when alaughter, a cough, a sneeze and at least one acoustic feature in theconversation among plural persons, are learned beforehand each as aspeech not intended to cause an operation, it is possible to recognizethe input voice that is not a speech intended to cause an operation, tothereby judge whether or not it is a speech intended to cause anoperation.

Meanwhile, though omitted from the diagram, in the case of in-vehicleapplication, because there is no case where the positions of the usersriding in the vehicle change frequently, when plural microphones arearranged therein, it is possible to judge whether it is a conversationamong such plural persons or not, from a power ratio or a variation inphase difference of the input signals of the respective microphones.Thus, in the case of a conversation among such plural persons, it ispossible to judge that the speech is not a speech intended to cause anoperation. Further, in the case where the driver is only the objectiveperson for operation, it is possible to judge that the voice reachingfrom a direction other than that of the driver's seat position is aspeech not intended to cause an operation.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 4 will be described.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 according to Embodiment 4. Even here, it is presumed, likeEmbodiments 1 to 3, that the in-vehicle device 1 to be connected is anaudio-integrated car-navigation device.

First, the key information receiver 11 receives from the car-navigationdevice (in-vehicle device 1) connected thereto, the information of theoperation keys displayed on the display 2 (Step ST31).

Then, the speech judgement processor 22 judges from the input voicethrough the microphone 3, whether or not it is a speech intended tocause an operation, using the aforementioned method, for example (StepST32).

Then, when it is judged that the input voice through the microphone 3 isnot a speech intended to cause an operation (in the case of NO in StepST32), the speech judgement processor keeps waiting until a voice thatis to be judged as a speech intended to cause an operation is inputted.Namely, when judged that it is not a speech intended to cause anoperation, the input voice is rejected before the voice recognitionprocessing is performed.

In contrast, when judged that it is a speech intended to cause anoperation (in the case of YES in Step ST32), the voice recognizer 12,upon receiving the result of judgement about the state of speech by thespeech judgement processor 22, performs voice recognition processing(Step ST33). Namely, the voice recognition processing is performed onlywhen judged to be a speech intended to cause an operation in Step ST32.

Next, using the recognition keyword acquired from the voice recognizer12, the operation key identifier 14 refers to the operation keyinformation acquired from the key information receiver 11, to therebyjudge whether the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult is present or not (Step ST34).

Then, if the operation key corresponding to the voice recognition result(recognition keyword) is not present in the operation key information,so that no operation key is identified (in the case of NO in Step ST34),the flow returns to Step ST32, so that the speech-state judgementprocessing is performed again by the speech judgement processor 22.

In contrast, if the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult is present, so that the operation key is identified, namely, ifthe operation key matched to the recognition keyword is present (in thecase of YES in Step ST34), the subsequent processing (Steps ST35 toST37) is the same as that in Steps ST4 to ST6 shown in the flowchart inFIG. 2 in Embodiment 1, so that its description is omitted here.

As described above, according to Embodiment 4, because a speechirrelevant to an operation can be eliminated before voice recognition,it is possible to reduce the frequency of occurrence of falserecognition in the voice recognition processing and to reduce occurrenceof execution about an unintended operation key, so that user'scomfortableness in the operation can be improved.

Embodiment 5

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the invention. Note that, withrespect to the components equivalent to those described in Embodiments 1to 4, the same reference numerals are given thereto, so that duplicateddescription thereof is omitted.

In comparison to Embodiment 1, according to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 of Embodiment 5 shown below, it further includes an outputsound eliminator 23 that acquires a signal of speaker-output sound thatis outputted from the in-vehicle device 1 to a speaker 8 connected tothe in-vehicle device 1, to thereby eliminate from the input sound, acomponent of the speaker-output sound, so that the voice recognizer 12performs voice recognition with respect to the voice after eliminationof the component of the speaker-output sound by the output soundeliminator 23.

The elimination method of the output sound in the output soundeliminator 23 may be performed, for example, using typical signals ofspeaker-output sound and microphone-input sound, and employing anadaptive filter whose filter coefficient is calculated by a learningidentification method. When thus configured, it is possible to estimatean acoustic echo component in the speaker-output sound that is inputtedto the microphone in the applied acoustic environment, so that aninfluence of the signal of speaker-output sound on the voice recognitionaccuracy can be reduced by deducting that acoustic echo component fromthe voice signal inputted to the microphone.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 5 will be described.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 according to Embodiment 5. Even here, it is presumed, likeEmbodiments 1 to 4, that the in-vehicle device 1 to be connected is anaudio-integrated car-navigation device.

First, the key information receiver 11 receives from the car-navigationdevice (in-vehicle device 1) connected thereto, the information of theoperation keys displayed on the display 2 (Step ST41).

Then, the output sound eliminator 23 receives a signal of speaker-outputsound transmitted from the in-vehicle device 1 to the speaker 8 (StepST42), and using the signal of speaker-output sound and a voice signalinputted through the microphone, eliminates from the voice inputtedthrough the microphone, the acoustic echo component (output soundcomponent) in the sound that is outputted through the speaker (StepST43).

Then, the voice recognizer 12 performs voice recognition processing onthe input voice after elimination of the speaker-output sound by theoutput sound eliminator 23 (Step ST44).

The processing subsequent to the voice recognition processing (StepsST45 to ST48) is the same as that in Steps ST3 to ST6 in the flowchartshown in FIG. 2 in Embodiment 1, so that its description is omittedhere.

Note that in the aforementioned Embodiment 5, the signal ofspeaker-output sound from the connected in-vehicle device 1 iseliminated; however, it is allowable to also receive and eliminatetogether a signal of sound outputted from the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 itself or another device, or from the vehicle, etc. onwhich the in-vehicle control apparatus 10 is mounted.

As described above, according to Embodiment 5, it is configured so thatthe acoustic echo component in the speaker-output sound can beeliminated from the voice inputted through the microphone, even duringplaying a vehicle voice guidance/sound effect or during playing backmusic. Thus, it is possible to reduce false recognition to therebyperform voice recognition more highly accurately, so that user'scomfortableness in the operation can be improved.

Embodiment 6

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing an example of an in-vehicle controlapparatus according to Embodiment 6 of the invention. Note that, withrespect to the components equivalent to those described in Embodiments 1to 5, the same reference numerals are given thereto, so that duplicateddescription thereof is omitted.

In comparison to Embodiment 1, according to the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 of Embodiment 6 shown below, it further includes a sightline detector 24 that detects a sight line of the user, so that theoperation key identifier 14 identifies the operation key using sightline information detected by the sight line detector 24 and therecognition result by the voice recognizer 12.

The sigh line detector 24 detects the sight line of the user and thentransmits coordinate information of that sight line to the operation keyidentifier 14.

Detection processing of the sight line by the sight line detector 24 maybe performed, for example, by roughly estimating it from a facedirection using a typical pattern recognition based on an image of theuser's face captured by the camera 5, or by using, though omitted fromthe diagram, a corneal reflection method by source-light irradiation, orthe like. Further, when it is configured to acquire beforehand,information of the relative positional relationship between the display2 and the user's eyes, it is possible to acquire as coordinate values,what portion in the display 2 the user is viewing.

Next, operations of the thus-configured in-vehicle control apparatus 10according to Embodiment 6 will be described.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing operations of the in-vehicle controlapparatus 10 according to Embodiment 6. Even here, it is presumed, likeEmbodiments 1 to 5, that the in-vehicle device 1 to be connected is anaudio-integrated car-navigation device.

First, the key information receiver 11 receives from the car-navigationdevice (in-vehicle device 1) connected thereto, the information of theoperation keys displayed on the display 2 (Step ST51).

The operation key information received herein includes, as shown in FIG.22, in addition to the recognition keywords and the execution commandscorresponding to the respective operation keys, the coordinateinformation on the display 2 of the respective operation keys displayedthereon, for example, (x, y)=(100, 100), and the like. The coordinateinformation may be any information so far as it makes it possible touniquely determine each of the display positions, such as, for example,an upper-left coordinate or center coordinate of the operation key, andadditionally, information whereby the size can be known may be addedthereto.

Then, using, for example, the aforementioned method, the sight linedetector 24 detects the direction of the sight line of the user from thecamera image captured by the camera 5; acquires the coordinateinformation (hereinafter, referred to as sight-line coordinate) on thedisplay screen of the display 2, corresponding to a portion to which theuser directs the sight line, for example, (x, y)=(200, 200); and sendsit to the operation key identifier 14 (Step ST52).

Meanwhile, the voice recognizer 12 performs voice recognition from thevoice signal inputted through the microphone 3 using the voicerecognition dictionary 13, and outputs the recognition keyword includedin the speech (Step ST53).

Then, based on the sight-line coordinate received from the sight linedetector 24 in Step ST52, the voice recognition result recognized inStep ST53 and the operation key information received in Step ST51, theoperation key identifier 14 judges whether the operation keycorresponding to the direction of the sight line and to the voicerecognition result is present or not (Step ST54) and, if the operationkey corresponding to the direction of the sight line and to the voicerecognition result is present (in the case of YES in Step ST54),identifies the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult (Step ST55).

Specifically, a predetermined specific range, for example, ±100, fromthe sight-line coordinate of (x, y)=(200, 200) received from the sightline detector 24, namely, a range from the coordinate of (x, y)=(100,100) to that of (x, y)=(300, 300) is presumed as a visually recognizablerange.

Then, based on the coordinate information of the operation keys added tothe information of the operation keys received by the key informationreceiver 11, the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult is identified with reference to operation key information of theoperation keys that are present in the visually recognizable range;namely, in the case where the information of the operation keys is thatshown in FIG. 22, with reference to operation key information of onlythe operation keys of [Playback] and [Next Song], because [Playback]having a coordinate of (x, y)=(100, 100) and [Next Song] having acoordinate of (x, y)=(100, 300) are only the operation keys that arepresent in the visually recognizable range.

In contrast, if the operation key corresponding to the voice recognitionresult (recognition keyword) is not present in the information of theoperation keys present in the visually recognizable range (in the caseof NO in Step ST54), the flow returns to Step ST52, so that the sightline detection by the sight line detector 24 and the voice recognitionprocessing by the voice recognizer 12 are performed again.

Here, the processing (Steps ST56 to ST57) subsequent to the operationkey identification in Step ST55 is the same as that in Steps ST5 to ST6in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in Embodiment 1, so that itsdescription is omitted.

Note that, in the case where plural in-vehicle devices are connected,the direction of the sight line obtained by the sight line detector 24may be utilized so as to limit the device to be operated.

Further, though omitted from the diagram, it is allowable, likeEmbodiment 1, to further include a dictionary generator 16 (see, FIG. 6)to thereby generate, using the coordinate positions added to theoperation key information and the sight-line coordinate acquired by thesight line detector 24, a voice recognition dictionary so that the voicerecognition is performed in a limited manner only about the operationkeys included in a specific visually recognizable range.

When thus configured, the voice recognition objects can be limited tothe recognition keywords corresponding to the keys that the user islikely to operate, in such a manner that, from the displayed operationkeys, they are narrowed down to those around a portion that the user isviewing, to thereby identify the operation key in a limited manner fromaround the narrowed down portion. Thus, it is possible to enhance anaccuracy or response speed in voice recognition. This achieves aparticular effect, for example, in the case where the display screen ofthe display 2 is large or the case where there are plural screens(plural displays).

As described above, according to Embodiment 6, because of the sight linedetection, it becomes possible to estimate the keys that the user islikely to operate, to thereby reduce identification of an operation keydifferent to the speech. Thus, it is possible to reduce occurrence ofexecution about an unintended operation key, so that user'scomfortableness in the operation can be improved.

It should be noted that unlimited combination of the respectiveembodiments, modification of any configuration element in theembodiments and omission of any configuration element in the embodimentsmay be made in the present invention without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The in-vehicle control apparatus of the invention may be applied to anyin-vehicle device so far as it is associated with displaying andoperation, such as a display having an operation control function, adevice having the display, a device connected to the display, or thelike, as exemplified by a car-navigation device, an HUD (Head-UpDisplay), an instrument panel and the like. Further, the in-vehiclecontrol apparatus may itself be incorporated in such a device.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS AND SIGNS

1: in-vehicle device, 2: display, 3: microphone, 4: decision key, 5:camera, 6, 8: speaker, 7: variety of sensors, 10: in-vehicle controlapparatus, 11: key information receiver, 12: voice recognizer, 13, 17:voice recognition dictionary, 14: operation key identifier, 15:controller, 16: dictionary generator, 18: motion recognizer, 19:acceptive information annunciator, 20: vehicle information receiver, 21:acceptance period setter, 22: speech judgement processor, 23: outputsound eliminator, 24: sight line detector, 30: speech (spoken content),40: highlighted indication.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An in-vehicle control apparatus forcontrolling an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, comprising: a keyinformation receiver that receives information of a plurality ofoperation keys displayed on a display connected to the in-vehicledevice, dynamically in response to a change in display content displayedon the display; a voice recognizer that recognizes a voice spoken by auser, using a voice recognition dictionary; an operation key identifierthat identifies the operation key corresponding to the voice spoken bythe user, on the basis of the information of the operation keys receivedby the key information receiver and a voice recognition result by thevoice recognizer; a controller that receives from a decision key, anoutput for selecting the operation key identified by the operation keyidentifier, to thereby give an instruction to the in-vehicle device forcausing it to execute a function assigned to the thus-identifiedoperation key; an acceptance period setter that sets an acceptanceperiod in which the instruction for execution of the function assignedto the operation key identified by the operation key identifier isacceptable; and a vehicle information receiver that acquires informationof the vehicle, wherein the acceptance period setter changes theacceptance period according to the vehicle information acquired by thevehicle information receiver, wherein the controller accepts theinstruction for execution only in the acceptance period set by theacceptance period setter, and wherein the voice recognizer stilloperates in the acceptance period, and wherein the operation keyidentifier identifies again the operation key at every occurrence of achange in the voice recognition result by the voice recognizer, on thebasis of the voice recognition result after that change.
 2. Thein-vehicle control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a dictionarygenerator that generates the voice recognition dictionary at least fromwords corresponding to the operation keys displayed on the display, onthe basis of the information of the operation keys, wherein the voicerecognizer recognizes the voice spoken by the user, using the voicerecognition dictionary generated by the dictionary generator.
 3. Thein-vehicle control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an acceptiveinformation annunciator that makes an announcement, based on anidentification result of the operation key by the operation keyidentifier, about at least one of: a fact of starting to accept theinstruction for execution with respect to the identified operation key;a fact of continuing to accept the instruction for execution withrespect to the identified operation key; and the information of theidentified operation key.
 4. The in-vehicle control apparatus of claim3, further comprising a vehicle information receiver that acquiresinformation of the vehicle, wherein the acceptive informationannunciator changes a method of making said announcement according tothe vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information receiver. 5.The in-vehicle control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a speechjudgement processor that judges whether or not the voice spoken by theuser is a speech intended to cause an operation, wherein the voicerecognizer performs voice recognition only when the voice thus-spoken isjudged to be a speech intended to cause an operation, by the speechjudgement processor.
 6. The in-vehicle control apparatus of claim 1,further comprising a motion recognizer that recognizes a body motion ofthe user, wherein the controller gives the instruction for causingexecution of the function assigned to the identified operation key, whena body motion of the user that shows an intention to cause execution isrecognized by the motion recognizer.
 7. The in-vehicle control apparatusof claim 1, further comprising an output sound eliminator that acquiresa signal of output sound outputted from the in-vehicle device to therebyeliminate a component of the output sound from an input sound, whereinthe voice recognizer performs voice recognition with respect to thevoice after elimination of the component of the output sound by theoutput sound eliminator.
 8. The in-vehicle control apparatus of claim 1,further comprising a sight line detector that detects a sight line ofthe user to thereby transmit coordinate information of the sight line tothe operation key identifier; wherein the key information receiverreceives also as the information of the operation keys, coordinateinformation on the display on which the respective operation keys aredisplayed; and wherein the operation key identifier identifies theoperation key on the basis of the coordinate information of the sightline received from the sight line detector, the recognition result bythe voice recognizer, and the information of the operation keys receivedby the key information receiver.
 9. An in-vehicle control method forcontrolling an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, comprising: in akey information receiver, receiving information of a plurality ofoperation keys displayed on a display connected to the in-vehicledevice, dynamically in response to a change in display content displayedon the display; in a voice recognizer, recognizing a voice spoken by auser, using a voice recognition dictionary; in an operation keyidentifier, identifying the operation key corresponding to the voicespoken by the user, on the basis of the information of the operationkeys received by the key information receiver and a voice recognitionresult by the voice recognizer; in a controller, receiving from adecision key, an output for selecting the operation key identified bythe operation key identifier, to thereby give an instruction to thein-vehicle device for causing it to execute a function assigned to thethus-identified operation key; in an acceptance period setter, settingan acceptance period in which the instruction for execution of thefunction assigned to the operation key identified in the identifyingstep is acceptable; and in a vehicle information receiver, acquiringinformation of the vehicle, wherein in the acceptance period setter,changing the acceptance period according to the vehicle informationacquired by the vehicle information receiver, in the controller,accepting the instruction for execution only in the acceptance periodset in the setting step, in the voice recognizer, operating in theacceptance period, and in the operation key identifier, identifyingagain the operation key at every occurrence of a change in the voicerecognition result, on the basis of the voice recognition result afterthat change.